By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 20 –– Luis Donaldo Colosio was considered a shoo-in for president when he was gunned down at a rally in Tijuana six years ago. People in
the crowd immediately seized a young man who ultimately was convicted for the killing.

Today, government prosecutors ended a $13 million investigation and presented a 68,000-page report on the assassination, laying all blame on the lone gunman,
Mario Aburto Martinez. Few Mexicans believe it.

The report is unlikely to end a Mexican pastime of debating conspiracy theories on the Colosio killing, particularly those involving top government officials. Already
critics are calling on the incoming government of Vicente Fox to reexamine the killing, which altered Mexican political history by putting Ernesto Zedillo in office.

"They might as well have thrown the money in the trash," said opinion leader and columnist Julio Hernandez Lopez. "I don't believe it, and the majority of Mexicans
don't believe it." Above all, he said, the prosecutor's report highlights the "political impunity in the political class."

Some independent analysts agreed with the findings, and Attorney General Jorge Madrazo Cuellar defended the government investigation, saying it had faithfully
aimed "to find the truth, whatever it is."

But most Mexicans "believe there was a conspiracy and this is not going to satisfy them," said law professor Raul Carranca y Rivas. Fox may be forced to reopen the
case because "so many people have a feeling of injustice," and "to try to restore confidence in weak institutions," he said.

After seven decades of often corrupt rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, widespread public distrust of the government helped Fox defeat the party for the
first time in July. He is to take office Dec. 1 and has promised a complete airing of some of the darkest political scandals of recent decades by a so-called
transparency commission.

Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a Fox adviser, said the commission will aim to "reestablish the legitimacy of Mexican institutions and give people a clear evidence of
accountability in their country." He said it will be similar in scope to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated political crimes and
abuses during the apartheid period.

Today's report echoed government findings a few months ago about the 1993 killing of an outspoken Roman Catholic cardinal, Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, at the
Guadalajara airport. After a seven-year investigation, government authorities declared--to the disbelief of many--that Posadas was a victim of mistaken identity and
confusion. Their report said the cardinal was sitting in a white Ford Grand Marquis, a model favored by drug lords, and the 14 shots he received in the chest and
throat were intended for a drug trafficker.

Many church officials discount those findings, saying gunmen would have had trouble at close range confusing the cardinal in his clerical garb with a drug trafficker.

Martinez, convicted for the Colosio murder, was a rather ordinary, poor 23-year-old factory worker. Authorities say he shot Colosio twice--once in the head, with a
.38 revolver purchased in California--but never explained a clear motive for the killing. According to prosecutors, Aburto confessed, saying, "I did it for Mexico."

Many Mexicans believe the president at the time, Carlos Salinas, at the very least has far more knowledge of the killing then he has acknowledged.

Salinas, whose term ended in 1994, has lived since then in self-imposed exile in Ireland. His image has been tarnished by corruption cases during his administration
and by his brother's conviction on a separate murder charge.

Shortly after Colosio was killed, his wife died of cancer, leaving behind two small children. His father, Luis Colosio Fernandez, won a seat in the Senate this July. The
elder Colosio said today was another "day of mourning" for his son. He criticized Zedillo and Salinas for not making the case "clear."

Well-known criminal lawyer Rafael Ruiz Harrell, in an interview, compared the Colosio case to that of John F. Kennedy. "Maybe at this point the wisest thing to do
is to accept that Colosio is dead," he said.

Researcher Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report.

                                                   © 2000 The Washington Post